File this under ‘unnecessary reboots/sequels that will make you long for the halcyon days of the 1990s.’ In today’s edition, we have the endless talk about the Independence Day sequels (there are two of them apparently), entitled ID Forever. Roland Emmerich, the man behind the original, has begun discussing just what these two sequels are going to entail during his press junket for the upcoming White House Down.
Emmerich had this to say about the changing world of ID Forever:
“It’s a changed world. It’s like parallel history. [Humans] have harnessed all this alien technology. We don’t know how to duplicate it because it’s organically-grown technology, but we know how to take an antigravity device and put it in a human airplane.”
Alrighty. And what of the fact that Jeff Goldblum and Will Smith totally defeated those alien bastards with a computer virus? Well, apparently the aliens sent out a distress call for reinforcements, but because of space travel and wormholes and such, it took 25 years for those reinforcements to arrive. Now that’s a useful distress call, don’t you think?
Yes, I am being overly facetious. The idea behind the Independence Day sequels actually does not sound too bad, pitting the sons of the original good guys against the aliens who have returned to wreak havoc on Earth once more. Maybe a bit predictable, but we should not ask for too much from our summer blockbusters.
The scripts for ID Forever were written by Emmerich and Dean Devlin and are currently being reworked by James Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt also did Zodiac and The Amazing Spider-Man. That little writing change is actually enough for me to shift into “Hey, this might not be too bad” mode.
The big question is whether or not the original actors will be back for ID Forever. Bill Pullman has already expressed interest in returning; Will Smith not so much. Smith and co-star Jeff Goldblum seem to be the requirements here, for me at least. They sort of helped to gloss over some of the more confusing or nonsensical aspects of the original.
With Will Smith might very well come other Smiths too as both Jaden and Willow Smith have been rumored for the sequels.
What do you think of ID Forever? Let us know in the comments.